Trial of officer's alleged killer moved to Clarion

Corey Trott will not face a murder trial in the county where he allegedly shot and killed a police officer in September.

District Court Judge Thomas Bice approved a change-of-venue motion for the 32-year-old Rockwell City resident accused of killing Jamie Buenting, 37, early Sept. 13 during an all-night standoff.

Trott's trial was moved to Wright County because of widespread media coverage that might have jeopardized his ability to get an impartial jury in Rockwell City.

Trott was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after an eight-hour standoff in the town. Police had tried to arrest him on an outstanding warrant after he was accused of assaulting his mother, 64-year-old Marjorie Trott. According to court documents, he kicked and punched her, "causing serious injury," before taking $300 from her.

After a neighbor reported seeing Trott at a residence on Pleasant Street in Rockwell City on Sept. 12, officers approached and were unable to convince Trott to leave the house. At about 1:40 a.m., a shot from within the house struck Buenting, who had been a police officer in Rockwell City for eight years and previously had arrested Trott for calling Calhoun County Sheriff William Davis and a police dispatcher and making death threats.

Buenting was pronounced dead at Stewart Memorial Community Hospital in Lake City Friday morning. Rockwell City's longtime mayor, Phil Heinlen, said he couldn't recall a police officer ever being killed in the line of duty there.

"It's something we've never gone through, something we didn't have plans to go through," he said.

Trott surrendered to police about four hours after the shooting.

"During an interview, Trott admitted to having knowledge that officers were attempting to execute a warrant and that he knowingly fired a .223-caliber rifle at a police officer," court records state.